By Séamas McAleenan
Victory for the footballers of St Malachy’s Castlewellan was all the sweeter in Davitt Park, Lurgan, on Tuesday afternoon as they had to work very hard defensively to make it happen.
That hard work came to a climax in the dying moments when Matthew O’Shea threw himself forward to make the perfect block and deny Holy Trinity an equaliser that would have extended an already superb game of football into extra time.
O’Shea had an outstanding game. So too did almost all the defence, with Pauric McAleenan and Aodhán McGrady catching the eye every time St Malachy’s were tracking back.
There was a huge battle at midfield between four strong players, with Luke Rice probably coming out of it with the most kudos as well as picking off three points.
Up front, the two corner men were lightning fast in the opening half. Holy Trinity employed a sweeper to cut the supply to Setanta Laverty, but then discovered that Pádraig Bannon also carried a huge threat. Cookstown changed Bannon’s marker for the second half, and it took a little sting out of the Castlewellan attack. But the pair still managed to contribute well by holding the ball and slowing the game down while they were ahead.
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